Chuck Palahniuk is the literary equivalent of “The Usual Suspects.” And it’s not because his name is as much of a mouthful as “Kaiser Söze.”
He’s a cult hit.
That much was clear as Palahniuk, who wrote “Fight Club” after he graduated from the University of Oregon, played to a packed WOW Hall on Tuesday night. The event was less of a reading and more of a rock concert, and Palahniuk embraced the role of the rock star.
As he told stories of touring the country, sharing a mononucleosis-infested coffee cup with Quentin Tarantino, it occurred to me that here’s a writer, finally, who’s turning fiction into the rollicking medium it should be. He’s crazy. He’s edgy. And he’s bringing fiction back to the people. A popular, good modern writer. My neurons are on overload.
Palahniuk appeals to college readers like “South Park” appeals to college television-watchers. The Tuesday event was dominated by students, most of them male and all of whom obviously worship Palahniuk. A single chair and a microphone sat on the WOW Hall stage, and people cheered as the lights dimmed for the first time. False alarm. They dimmed again, people cheered again. I wondered if I was waiting for Palahniuk or U2.
Finally, he was introduced and he came on. I expected Bono but got a math professor. He had Urkel-sized glasses and a puke-brown vest. But then he opened his mouth, and the professor image didn’t mean anything. He was funny, sure, but unpredictable and nuts at the same time.
Then he started in on his reading, a short story from his upcoming book of horror stories. He told us we’d be sweating soon, and he didn’t lie. The story was nastier than nasty, to the point that if I simply told you the plot, you’d get squeamish. A lot of “oohs” and “ughs” rippled through the audience.
After the reading, Palahniuk answered questions and gave out plastic limbs from his “Choke” book tour. He stayed for at least an hour and a half to sign every last book brought by every last fan.
That’s what makes Palahniuk great. He cares about his writing. He stayed for everybody at the reading, and you got the sense it wasn’t just because this was his old hometown. He runs a workshop on his Web site, http://www.chuckpalahniuk.net, where he picks a story every month and critiques it. He recommends books on that Web site and was quick to recommend other writers at Tuesday’s reading.
All that makes him a cult hero to readers and writers alike. I’m half journalist, half creative writer, and that second half of me was inspired by Palahniuk’s obvious passion for his work. I couldn’t come close to imitating his nuts-o style, but I do appreciate his zeal.
A friend told me a story about Palahniuk. Apparently Palahniuk, who lives in Portland, sometimes waltzes into the Portland Barnes & Noble, yanks his books off the shelf and signs them, right in the store. He puts the books back himself.
So yeah, he’s a little cocky. But it’s awesome. He’s cocky about his writing because he truly loves it. And that means that thousands of people, like those who showed up at the WOW Hall on Tuesday night, love him back.
Even if he doesn’t look like a rock star.